3 monitors, nvidia graphics card, need 1 more output

[DaveTheBrave]

Hi guys,
So i want to be able to play games with my 3 new monitors (using the Nvidia Control Panel). All work with my computer (one being plugged into my mobo), just Nvidia will only use the ones plugged into my graphics card.

I need to know 2 things:
1. If my motherboard HDMI port can be detected on the Nvidia Control Panel and how?
2. If not, then will a second cheap (£50) graphics card allow Nvidia to find it and use it ingame?

Context: The whole reason why I have the three monitors is to be able to play games (dirt, dayz, . arma, cs) with a surround/immersive feeling to it.

Thanks a lot,
Dave

 

[Thelps]

Triple Monitor support can be a tricky goal to aim for.

To begin with, there are certain Graphics Cards on the market that were designed with 3+ Monitor Support in mind. The Nvidia GTX 590, for instance, which is essentially two cards SLId, will happily support 4 monitors, as will any Eyefinity branded AMD Radeon card (some of which can deal with 6 monitors).

Nvidia's Control Panel unfortunately seems to be rather weak when it comes to Multiple Monitor Setup. Have you tried checking Windows' Control Panel > Appearance and Personalisation > Display > Screen Resolution window to see if all three monitors are detected by Windows when attached to their display ports?

Have you ensured your Main Board Graphics Chipset is Enabled in your Main Board BIOS?

Here's a neat guide to lots of information about Multiple Monitors:

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/peripherals/the-complete-guide-to-multiple-monitors-1074313

(Scroll down to or hit CTRL+F and type Set Up Multiple Monitors to get to the hardware advice).

As for a Graphics Card, if you intend to game a lot on these monitors I'd recommend an SLI setup although that entails you buying the exact same GPU for your second PCIe x16 slot (assuming your motherboard supports multiple GPUs). This is preferable to buying a non-SLI graphics card as you'll see greater performance gain as far as games are concerned, as multiple monitors can prove taxing on a single GPU.

Hope that helps.

 

[DaveTheBrave]

Thanks, I might try getting a VGA cable and just having one lower quality than the other two, if it is really bad then ill get a better graphics card.